[x5_Bard]

Introduction:

This guide will be aimed at max level monk characters beginning the hard grind from act 1 through to act 4 in Inferno. I will be going over a sword and board style of play, since I believe this to be the best for dealing with the harder difficulties. An indepth look at skills/runes along with gearing will also be discussed. It is also presumed that you will have a basic knowledge of how most runes work which can be gained from Cyanides thread! I will be updating this frequently as my opinions on skills literally change every couple of days, check the top for when the guide was last updated.

Recommended Skills:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...gi.Q!UY!a.ZZ.a

This is the basic of what I would recommend for sword and board. You will notice several gaps which will come down to personal preference which I will go over later.

Choosing your skills:

If you want a basic overview of all skills and abilities here is your first stop http://us.battle.net/d3/en/class/monk/active/. I wont be looking at every single ability+rune because in my opinion only 25% are actually playable.

Ability 1: Spirit Generator –

+ [Fists of Thunder] +

Fists of Thunder (FoT): I believe this to be the best spirit generator, even before runes. The knockback/interrupt ability on the third strike is by far the best tool to deal with white mobs in inferno. Combined with its higher attack speed+spirit generation I feel it is by far the best spirit generator.

Skill Runes:

Thunderclap: The teleport on this rune is the best tool for dealing with elite mobs. You cant go toe to toe with every single rare pack in the game, so kiting is required. What this rune allows you to do is kite and then dart back for a quick hit to keep up sweeping winds. I like to go for versatility in my builds and this is the perfect tool for that.

Lightning Flash: 16% dodge, which will suffer from DR. This rune is more useful for dual wield, dodge centric builds and as such I wouldn’t recommend it for sword and board.

+ [Deadly Reach] +

Deadly Reach (DeR): This ability is actually pretty useful in the fact that it is ranged, it reduces the difficulty in dealing with kiting mobs+firechains/molten etc while still allowing you to smash through white mobs. Overall its quite decent but lacks the staying power and versatility which I feel FoT has.

Skill Runes:

Keen Eye: 50% increased armor for 4 seconds. This is the reason you would take DeR. Its 50% armor of your current so 100 becomes 150 and so forth. This will generally reduce incoming damage by 15-20% because of DR, however it is extremely effective and highly recommended. The only downside is its lack of mobility but this is countered slightly by it also being ranged.

Foresight: +18% damage for 30 seconds. This is what I would recommend for boss encounters, its basically free DPS.

+ [Crippling Wave] +

Crippling Wave (CW) – Im not going to go into this ability because it doesn’t do anything that FoT and DeR don’t do better.

+ [Way of the Hundred Fists] +

Way of the Hundred Fists (WotHF) – The main DPS ability, the only issue is that it has no defensive role whatsoever. All its runes are aimed at either doing damage or generating spirit. I would recommend to stay away from this as even though the damage is increased it limits your ability to stay alive substantially.

+ [Overall] +

Overall: Basically in spirit generators you have 2 main choices FoT Thunderclap or DeR Keen Eye. In my mind both are equal in terms of overall gameplay so you can pick either one for your main spirit generator.

Ability 2: Spirit Dump –

Due to its position on right click it makes sense to have an ability you can simply dump spirit into on that off chance you don’t need to heal. There are several abilities that will work here and again it all comes down to personal preference. Basically any ability that costs spirit and doesn’t have a cooldown is an option here. Also note that you can actually choose anything you want here, including abilities described in later sections. Consider this ability slot open for anything!

+ [Exploding Palm] +

Exploding Palm (EP): My favorite ability in the game, what it allows you to do is focus down 1 mob, exploding palm it just before it dies and then it will do 33% of its max hp to all mobs around it. This ability is so insanely good at dealing with elite packs that I would choose it over any other ability without a second thought. It basically doubles as a single target and aoe target burn, this versatility is what makes it so good.

Skill Runes:

The Flesh is Weak: Target takes an additional 12% damage during EPs duration. Basically this increases EPs damage to 246% weapon damage over 3 seconds and allows you to pump more damage into it at the same time. I prefer this as it helps to burn through the target mob quickly, which is useful on both boss encounters and normal/elite packs.

Impending Doom: increases the duration by 3 seconds. This doesn’t increase the damage, all it does is gives you a larger time frame to kill the mob for the explosion. I would suggest not to take this as you can simply learn when to use EP so that you can kill it within 3 seconds.

Essence Burn: This rune is probably the most amusing in the game. If you time it right you just watch a massive group of mobs erupt in flames and chain blow up/die. It is incredibly funny and satisfying when you do it right. That being said only take this if your struggling with large packs of mobs (maybe act 2/3).

+ [Cyclone Strike] +

Cyclone Strike (CS): I don’t really like this, while the runes are quite useful pulling mobs towards you is not. Since your aiming to tank it doesn’t make sense to be increasing the amount of damage you are taking.

+ [Mystic Ally] +

Mystic Ally (MA): Is actually really fun, its only issue is that your element will die a lot so if you don’t keep track of it your losing out on damage. Only take this if you are practiced with the ability and know how/when to use it. For instance with the water rune you want to rehit the ability when you need a peel as the water elemental will briefly stun the mobs in its path. A little hit and miss but still useful.

+ [Wave of Light] +

Wave of Light (WoL): Is extremely good AoE damage, combined with the knockback it is actually a great peel for dealing with large packs of mobs (Act 3 mainly). If you combine this with cyclone strike you can have a very fun combo where you pull mobs in then use WoL to smash them back out again. The only issue with WoL is you will lose damage when hitting a single target due to the abilities animation taking longer than 2 hits of FoT. As such, great for normal mobs, terrible for bosses.

+ [Lashing Tail Kick] +

Lashing Tail Kick (LTK): This ability is useful if you choose the DeR path, especially with the Hand of Ytar rune. You can also use this normally in a choke for extremely good effect due to its small aoe radius.

Skill Runes:

Scorpion Sting: This stun combined with the small frontal AoE makes this ability insane if you engage in a small choke, you can smash through an entire pack with relative ease here. I would recommend this skill rune when combined with FoT as it will allow you to chain interrupt and stun your opponents making them much easier to deal with.

Hand of Ytar: The range of this rune makes it combine very well with DeR and infact I would recommend this over EP if you choose to take DeR. Works in both AoE and single target situations.

+ [Overall] +

Overall: It’s a toss up between EP and LTK. I personally choose EP with the Flesh is weak rune due its versatility along with the fact that I enjoy it. I would recommend EP if your using FoT and LTK if you are using DeR.

Ability 3: Serenity

+ [Serenity] +

Serenity: You cannot be damaged and also breaks all forms of CC. Whats not to say about this, it pretty much forms the core of any monk build due to it being the number 1 “oh shit” button. I cannot honestly think of a build where this ability would not be useful. I also use this as a DPS burn, basically while this is active I try and do as much damage as possible before resuming back to kiting to wait for it to come off CD.

Skill Runes:

Peaceful Repose: Gives you a large heal, helpful if you are running low but within the 3 second duration it is very easy to get enough spirit in order to get back to max health anyway. Not great but still handy!

Reap what is Sown: On inferno this rune will make you deal your health pool in damage to all surrounding enemies when it breaks. If you have 40k Hp that’s 40k damage. Absurdly good to put it lightly.

Ascension: +1 seconds duration, whats not to love.

Instant Karma: This to me looks to be the next step up from Reap what is Sown, however when I tried it, it didn’t seem to work too well. Basically due to most enemies having slow attack speeds they only get 1-2 hits of during the duration. It also doesn’t work if you are standing in AoE as this damage isn’t reflected for obvious reasons. Because of this I found Reap what is Sown to be better.

+ [Overall] +

Overall: Basically you have 3 main choices, which again come down to personal preference. I myself love doing an instant 30k damage when my shield breaks so I chose Reap, if you want to go Peaceful Repose or Ascension that’s fine as well.

Ability 4: Sweeping Wind (SW)

+ [Sweeping Wind] +

This is your AoE grind. For those of you that have never tried it, use it and never look back. Essentially its free damage ontop of your spririt generator as once its up and running it requires no spirit to run. Again another ability that all Monks should be using.

Skill Runes:

Bladestorm: More damage. Enough said!

Inner Storm: 3 Spirit per second is actually pretty awesome. The only issue is that you have to keep SW running in order to get it. Only choose this is you are dying from a lack of spirit (usually its because you pulled too many mobs). This rune is also best used with DeR to offset its lower spirit gen and also because you don’t really to be in melee range all that often.

Cyclone: While this looks better than Bladestorm on paper its actually not unless you are facing 10+ mobs at once or have extremely high crit. The issue with this is that you don’t want to be facing 10 mobs at once because this usually means you are dead and having crit that high is probably impossible before act 4 inferno.

+ [Overall] +

Overall: Again, Bladestorm for FoT, Innerstorm for DeR. Or you can do it the other way around, it doesn’t really matter since this ability is the tits.

Ability 5: Open

Put anything you want here to make the build distinctly your own (within the 14 possibilities) or any skill you have enjoyed while leveling to suit your playstyle. I’ll go over the main ones though that I haven’t already covered.

+ [Seven Sided Strike] +

Seven Sided Strike (SSS): My personal favorite, this is great single target damage and with fulminating onslaught is also solid AoE damage. The best thing about this ability is that you can’t take any damage while using it. Making it another “oh shit” button to hit after Serenity. It suffers from a long cooldown but this is easy offset by its awesome animation.

Skill Runes:

Fulminating Onslaught: The only real option here as it allows SSS to double as AoE as well. I wouldn’t recommend any of the others over it.

+ [Blinding Flash] +

Blinding Flash (BF): Arguably much better than SSS especially when runed. The issue I have with it is it doesn’t do damage, this is however offset by the fact that your enemies cant. An extremely solid choice for this slot. Also a neat trick if your certain to die is to simply hit this then teleport out, if there are no ranged mobs you just saved yourself a death. This should make white mobs a breeze provided you use it correctly, if you take this ability your only real problem will be elites which brings us to runes!

Skill Runes:

Searing Light: One of the main options here. Elite packs are really the only difficulty you should run into on inferno as dying to normal mobs would indicate you need to improve your gear rather than abilities. This basically gives you another 3 seconds after Serenity with which to pile on the damage.

Faith in the Light: The other option and the one I would recommend. Basically this increases your DPS by 30% for 3 seconds, while this doesnt sound too great it is actually amazing when dealing with elite packs, especially if you use high damaging ability (SSS) while the buff is active. This rune is what makes the ability worthwile

+ [Breath of Heaven] +

Breath of Heaven: A great ability which unfortunately doesn’t scale with your health pool. However it does have a few very nice Skill runes which make this ability great as a support!

Skill Runes

Blazing Wrath: +15% damage for 30 seconds is actually amazing since you will probably be using this ability every 20ish anyway this buff basically stays active all the time you are in combat. Great for bosses, great for mobs. Again my only issue with it is that is does no damage

Circle of scorn: Meh, if I wanted an ability for AoE damage I would choose one of the others.

Penitent Flame: Is also really nice, gives you an extra 1.5 seconds to deal damage and also doubles as a peel.

+ [Overall] +

Overall: Basically pick whatever you want here, anything I have already listed will work and I’m sure there are others that I haven’t considered that will work too!

Ability 6: Mantra of Healing (MoH)

This is where it starts to get interesting. Basically nearly every mantra is useful in some way, however I have chosen MoH and that is what I will go over here. I am very interested to hear discussion on the other 3 and uses (apart from the obvious). The main reason I chose this ability is because it is a heal without a CD. However with transcendence every ability becomes that way so an argument can be made either for either side. Also with the removal of boon of protection (we all knew it wasn’t going to last) I am currently fiddling to see if anything works better.

+ [Mantra of Healing] +

Skill Runes:

Sustenance: Doubles the life per second given, this is the rune I currently use but I am still unsure if this bonus is used when equating the heal given by the first 3 seconds of activation. Some people say yes, others say no and since I don’t have a recount tool available it is hard to tell by eye.

Time of Need: Gives a flat 20% resist before DR. Ends up being around 5% resist if you have over 50% normally. Its ok I guess, but not amazing.

Heavenly Body: +10% vitality. Quite useful, the only issue is that once your past the one shot zone on health theres no real reason to have any more. No use having all that health if you cant heal yourself enough to keep it up.

Circular Breathing: 3 spirit per second. Again quite useful, probably more so than the others.

+ [Overall] +

Overall: Basically you are picking between 20% resistance, 10% vitality, 3 spirit per second and 320 life per second. If these were 4 different pieces of gear which would you choose?

Passive Skills:

+ [Passives] +

Transcendance: This basically turns all of your spirit requiring abilities into a semi heal, I find it amazing as you can spam your spirit dump and still have enough healing in some cases. It also deals with healing not scaling and allows you to have a bigger health pool. Not for everyone but I like it

One with Everything: Makes all your resist your current highest. This ability is a must and I will go into why in gearing.

Seize the Initiative: turns 100% of your dexterity into armor. Basically adds a crapload of armour. Also works extremely well when combined with DeR Keen eye. My armor goes up to 77% in average gear when these 2 are combined.

Chant of Resonance: 2 Spirit per second, the increased mantra time isn’t an issue since you will be spamming that anyway.

Near Death Experience: Very situational. Most of the time I die is because I screwed up, another 35% HP wont save me from standing in desecration+molten+plagued.

Beacon of Ytar: 15% reduction on skills. Since your spirit generator is your main form of healing and mantra is your main form of healing this ability has less effect on your main priorities, works both defensively and offensively due to decreasing CD’s and that’s about it.

Resolve: 25% damage reduction for 2.5 seconds after you hit a mob. This looks amazing until you figure out that 1. You need to actually be damaging a mob for it to work, 2. An elite’s auto attack isn’t what kills you its that stupid arcane ball spinning around that does and 3. Staying in melee range to keep this buff up is far harder than it looks. This ability is good don’t get me wrong; it just doesn’t work how you think it does!

+ [Overall] +

Overall: One with Everything is a must here, transcendence is highly recommended and the third comes down to personal preference. Try and look at everything as stats on a piece of gear, I myself would take 1000 armour over 2 spirit per second any day.

My own build: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...iTQ!UYX!aaZZca

Gearing: So you have chosen your build and now have to work on gearing, this part is probably the hardest which is why I am still working on it! Will have it updated shortly

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Boss Guide:

Elite Guide:

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